Steve Ballmer lets us all in on the real reason for the Xbox shortages, and …

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Microsoft's Xbox 360 launch has so far been notable for two things: massive shortages and a power brick you could fry an egg on. Various and sundry conspiracy theories have popped up on the 'Net to explain both of these phenomena, but the most popular is the belief that the console shortage was created by Microsoft to drive up demand. Not so, says Steve Ballmer in a friendly interview with the Ottawa Citizen. Before getting to Ballmer's quote about the 360, let's set the mood a bit. Here's how Ballmer answered the very first question the interviewer posed:

Q: It's clear that Google is making some inroads against Microsoft. Are you confident that Microsoft can take on Google on its own?

A: First of all, Google has made no inroads whatsoever in anything we do. In the areas where we've been strong--operating systems, productivity software, email, communications--we've had effectively no impact from Google.

Ballmer, the Master of Nuance, takes the same confrontational tone throughout the interview. 'Utter contradiction' seems to be his mantra, so by the time the interview wraps up with a question about the current 360 shortages, Ballmer's response comes as no surprise.

Q: Why aren't you making more?

A: We are making more.

At this point, the interviewer must be finding it easier to believe that Ballmer might be the chair throwing type. Fortunately for him, Ballmer leaves the chairs alone and gives an explanation for the 360's shortages. Turns out that it's not a conspiracy, just low chip yields—well, low chip yields plus shipping 300,000 of the machines to Europe for the Dec. 2 launch there.

"All stores are getting new units each week. Can we make as many as people want? The answer is no, but not because we don't want to. In these new consumer electronics devices based on new chips, there's always the question of what yield will you get out of the manufacturing process of the new chip. We're getting a little less, but not much less than the yields we expected, and we know that the yields we expected will probably outrun supply. But we decided to go ahead and launch rather than wait until post-Christmas and get a few million units out into the hands of users. We're doing our best."

Unfortunately, we don't yet know what 'doing our best' means, because official sales numbers aren't yet available. Market research firm NPD Group released a report yesterday claiming that the 360 had sold 332,000 units in its first five days on the market. Then, some hours later, NPD summarily yanked the report, claiming that its figures may have been "overstated." What we do know for certain, though, is that part of the reason for shortages in the stores is the fact that more than 40,000 consoles appeared for sale on eBay after the launch. If the 332,000 number is at all accurate (and this is still a big 'if'), that means that 12 percent of the available North American supply ended up in the hands of resellers. Microsoft's launch shortages may keep fourth quarter revenue down at the software giant, but they've apparently helped line the pockets of 40,000 young capitalists.